Graduate Student Opportunities

Robin Bell (robinb@ldeo.columbia.edu): The Polar Geophysics group at Lamont is seeking students to engage with our ongoing research program into major issues in cryospheric studies including subglacial hydrology, climate and ice sheets, ice sheet dynamics and mass balance, and linkages between ice sheet processes and subglacial geology. www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~robinb

Roger Buck (buck@ldeo.columbia.edu): Our group uses numerical and laboratory models to study fundamental aspects of plate tectonics, including rifting, orogeny, subduction, ridge dynamics and magma dynamics. We also participate in fieldwork to test ideas about geodynamic processes. We have recently developed the first self-consistent conceptual model for the build-up and collapse of mountain belts and need a student to work on all aspects of the problem. These include developing 2- and 3-dimensional numerical models of mantle and crustal deformation, perfecting analog models of orogeny and comparing model predictions with geologic and geophysical data. www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~buck

Suzanne Carbotte (carbotte@ldeo.columbia.edu): Uses marine seismic and sonar mapping techniques to investigate the creation and evolution of oceanic crust. Active research projects include multi-channel seismic reflection studies of magma chambers and crustal structure at the East Pacific Rise and Juan de Fuca Ridge and an upcoming project to characterize the aging of oceanic crust across the Juan de Fuca plate, from creation at the mid-ocean ridge, across the plalte interior to subduction at the Cascadia subduction zone. www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~carbotte

Scott Nooner (snooner@ldeo.columbia.edu): My group works on problems related to crustal deformation, rifting, and crustal structure and rheology. I am currently seeking graduate students interested in combining GPS fieldwork and numerical modeling as part of a larger project to investigate the structure of the Malawi segment of the East African Rift. Students will also have opportunities to engage in complementary research at mid-ocean ridge settings. www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~snooner

Donna Shillington (djs@ldeo.columbia.edu): I use active-source seismology together with other geophysical and geological datasets to study a wide-range of magmatic, deformational and sedimentary processes in rifts and subduction zones. Opportunities for graduate study include forthcoming studies of 1) early stage continental breakup around northern Lake Malawi in the east Africa rift and 2) the formation and evolution of detachment faults offshore Portugal at a successfully rifted margin. www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~djs

Maya Tolstoy (tolstoy@ldeo.columbia.edu): Seeks graduate students to work on mid-ocean ridge earthquakes and their role in hydrothermal and volcanic processes on the seafloor. Specifically oportunites exist to work on a microearthquake data set from the East Pacific Rise together with LDEO colleague Felix Waldhauser. Possible projects include studying changes in the character of hydrothermal system through time as well as researching the seismic nature of the first mid-ocean ridge eruption recorded on ocean bottom seismometers. Of particular interest are changes in the tidal triggering through time, changes in depth of the cracking front through time and changes in crustal velocity through the eruption cycle. Opportunities also exist for studying earthquakes associated with the Cascadia subduction zone, and in particular tidal triggering of the local off-shore seismicity in the area. www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~tolstoy